Taxi drivers in parts of Kent may be forced to carry card machines as three councils consider making them mandatory.

Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks councils are all considering making card readers compulsory in cabs.

The move has split opinion in the trade, with some drivers already routinely carrying payment machines while others have raised concerns, such as poor internet connections.

On September 12, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s (TWBC) licensing committee agreed that its taxi and private hire drivers should have the machines.

TWBC will hold a public consultation before making a final decision in November.

Under TWBC’s proposals, drivers who don’t carry card machines could get nine points on their council taxi licence.

If they get 12 within two years they’re called before a council committee and can face punishment.

On September 14, Maidstone Borough Council’s (MBC) licensing committee voted unanimously to consult on the change.

A report cited “a growing number of complaints from members of the public in relation to the lack of hackney carriage vehicles offering card payment facilities or alternative cashless options”.

MBC’s consultation will start in October, with a final decision due in January 2024.

On September 20, Sevenoaks District Council’s (SDC) licensing committee also voted unanimously to consult on mandating that taxi and private hire drivers carry the devices.

Under SDC’s plans, failure to have a working card machine would result in a penalty of two points a day for each day the driver doesn’t have one.

In Sevenoaks, if a driver gets 12 points in 12 months action can be taken against them.

Subject to the consultation, the rules will take effect from April 2024.

However, some drivers don’t back the idea.

Shujaullah Baraki, chairman of the Tunbridge Wells Hackney Drivers Association, says he and many other drivers already take card payments, but added: “If it is mandatory it will be trouble.”

“The problem is that we’re living in a town that is uneven and we have lots of places where there is not internet connection and we can't take their money when we’re there, the transactions don’t go through,” continued Mr Baraki, who works as a driver for Taxi Line.

He explained how in rural areas such as Goudhurst, Lamberhurst and Rusthall, and even some parts of Tunbridge Wells, poor signal means card machines often fail.

Mr Baraki argues that drivers should simply put badges on their cars indicating whether or not they take cards.

He also says mandatory card machines eat into both drivers’ tips and their regular revenue through transaction fees.

“Before, a journey was for £4.80, they give us five pounds and we say thank you - that 20p is for my tip, or if a journey is £8 or £9 they give you £10.

“At the end of the day I have like £8, £9, £10, £15 that kind of money as tip.”

Using card machines, “I’m losing £10 in the tips, and I’m losing £5 for the transactions,” he added.

Other cabbies have welcomed the plans.

Cllr Ashleigh Kimmance (Lib Dem), a Maidstone borough councillor and licensed hackney carriage driver of more than 35 years, said: “At the end of the day we’ve got to move forward, we’ve got to go with the times.

“As a professional in the trade and also as a councillor I do believe that it should be mandatory for the black cab drivers to carry a machine.”

He thinks that with modern technology the machines are no longer an imposition on drivers, compared to when they were “the size of a suitcase”.

“Whilst we support and encourage all members to have such a facility, we feel that mandating it is over the top...”

Cllr Kimmance says the transaction fee is “minuscule” and card machines such as his provide customers the option to tip.

David Lawrie, director of the National Private Hire and Taxi Association, is also against mandatory card machines.

“In reality, licensing officers and panels understand very little about the industry when making these decisions”, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

“As an industry, most vehicles and drivers already have card machines or indeed pay-by-app installed into their phones in order to accommodate wherever possible, those who wish to pay by card,” he continued.

The machines’ transaction fees “effectively take a cut, however small a percentage, out of each fare, a cost which by law may not be passed on to the card user”, he said.

He also said that many council’s policies require drivers to keep the machine working at all times, which can leave them open to punishment from councils for technological problems which aren’t their fault.

He went on: “Whilst we support and encourage all members to have such a facility, we feel that mandating it is over the top, and the conditions attached to it are over and above anything that may be reasonable.

“We have even come across some councils that stipulate which card machine providers may be used.”

Across Kent, only Canterbury City Council has a policy that taxi drivers must carry card machines.

Medway Council voted in August to make them mandatory but the change is yet to be approved by the full council.